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From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
After hydroxychloroquine violations, Rep. Conor Lamb calls for feds to investigate state response to Brighton outbreak
DANIEL MOORE
Post-Gazette Washington Bureau
August 4, 2020
WASHINGTON — Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, on Tuesday called for federal officials to investigate the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Beaver County nursing home where at least 73 residents have died from COVID-19 and 332 have tested positive.
Mr. Lamb drafted the letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after learning state inspectors found the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center broke state rules by administering hydroxychloroquine to nearly half of its residents in April.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last week on the state inspection, during which the nursing home’s medical director stated he knew that he did not have the required state approval to give residents the experimental drug.
The nursing home broke with federal protocols, too, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March had authorized the use of hydroxychloroquine only in hospital settings. In June, the FDA revoked that emergency authorization after deeming it “unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19” and warned of the possibility of serious side effects.
Mr. Lamb, in the letter, pointed out the state’s inspection report found troubling violations — with little obvious sign of penalties or enforcement by state health officials. The use of hydroxychloroquine directly violated state nursing home regulations that prevent experimental research or treatment without approval from the state and from each resident.
“At this point, the Pennsylvania Department of Health does not appear to have imposed any accountability or punishment on Brighton for the use of hydroxychloroquine without permission,” Mr. Lamb wrote. “For this reason, I request you investigate the state’s response to this unnecessary tragedy at Brighton.”
A spokesperson for the state health department did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
CMS, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, regulates the country’s roughly 15,000 nursing homes but largely defers inspection and enforcement powers to state agencies. CMS has come under more pressure from lawmakers and patient advocates to respond more forcefully to the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes, where elderly or sick residents have been especially vulnerable to the virus.
CMS has estimated, based on incomplete data, that as many as one in four COVID-19 deaths have occurred in nursing homes. A New York Times database pegged that percentage at more than 40% of all COVID-19 deaths. An independent commission, including a UPMC doctor, launched in June to draw up recommendations for CMS to strengthen nursing home oversight. …
The hydroxychloroquine revelations added yet another wrinkle to the Brighton outbreak.
The antimalarial drug that has been the subject of a political debate after it was aggressively promoted by President Donald Trump as a possible cure or treatment for COVID-19 despite there being little clinical evidence to back that up.
In May, Mr. Trump told reporters he took daily doses of hydroxychloroquine for two weeks, even though he was experiencing no symptoms of the virus.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, who contracted the virus in late March, has repeatedly touted the fact that he used the drug, while stopping short of saying he knows that it alleviated the symptoms.
Last week, Mr. Kelly spoke to a virtual audience of The Ripon Society, a conservative group, about the drug: “People ask me now, ‘Do you think that really helped you?’ And this is the one thing I will say: I never had the respiratory problems that some of my friends who were going through it at the same time were going through.”
On June 15, the FDA decided the risks outweighed any benefits and removed its emergency authorization. The FDA questioned the drug’s effectiveness and warning of potentially fatal side effects, such as irregular heart rhythm.
The state’s inspection report of the Brighton facility also noted that short-term use of the drug had been found to have multiple side effects, ranging from a mild upset stomach to heart issues.